Local junior hockey teams will get an international taste this week.
Kincardine, Mount Forest and Mitchell are all hosting EHC Dübendorf from Switzerland.
The exhibition schedule was set up by Kincardine Bulldogs' GM Doug Kennedy.
The Swiss team will stop in Kincardine tonight to play a game at 7:30pm at the Davidson Centre against the Bulldogs. The second stop is Thursday, December 29 in Mount Forest for an 8:00pm game against the Patriots. And the third game is Friday night on December 30th to play the Mitchell Hawks at 7:30pm.
In an earlier interview, Kennedy had a goal to set up the international games to create opportunities for local players.
“The Junior B’s and A’s always get to play European teams, and to my knowledge the C’s never have. With the help of Moore’s Sports Group in Toronto, we went recruiting, and my goal for the next 4 or 5 years is to bring a different team over every year, so the Junior C teams all get a chance to play them.”
Kennedy thinks a chance to take on a European team with a different style of hockey will be great for the players, and he’s already spoken to other countries about coming over.
“I met with the Czech Republic junior operators when I was over there, as well operators from Germany and Austria. The people from Moore’s also have good contact with Finland, Sweden and the Russians. So that’s my plan, to get a different group here every year for the next few years.”
Kennedy was in Europe with his high school team last year, where he started making connections to get the Swiss team to commit to the trip.
--with files from Ryan Drury
